Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can hardly be called friends. Netanyahu’s departure from office June 13 should have been a jubilant moment for Ankara. For the first time an Arab Party, Ra’am, entered an Israeli coalition government, something giving Erdogan an opportunity to congratulate new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. 

But a diplomatic source from Ankara, speaking on the condition of anonymity the day Bennett was sworn in, told Al-Monitor, “Erdogan will miss Netanyahu. They were enemies with a lot of benefits.” 

This claim is counterintuitive and surprising, because whenever the two leaders made headlines when it came to each other in the last decade, they were usually furiously criticizing the other. Why then would Erdogan not be happy about Netanyahu’s departure? We can provide three reasons.

First, they strongly resemble each other in personas and in political discourse. They are strongmen who have long remained in power and do not want to let go of it. Indeed, opposition Good Party (Iyi Party) leader Meral Aksener said May 18, "Erdogan's Israeli version, Benjamin Netanyahu, did not hesitate to target the lives of civilians and children to stop his political rivals and protect his seat."